The Power of Life
by BronzeAndIron
Summary: The Power comes with a price, but what if it didn't? The Hawthorne women were known for their sustaining life force, strong enough to even act as an anchor for the Sons of Ipswich's magic. When Chase Collins learns of this solution to his aging problem, he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I'm a poor college student; all I own is a box of ramen and like $20 that I'll probably end up spending on beer… I don't own anything from this story, BUT if I did, it would totally be Sebastian Stan ;)**

 **A/N: So this story does include an OC, and while it's** ** _obviously_** **not my** **intention** **to make her a mary sue, this first chapter does follow the movie pretty closely. The rest of the story will be spread out so that the events of the movie take place over the course of the semester rather than just a week, and I'll also be adding my own stuff in here too. I've also kinda altered the legends and history, but I'm allowed to do that so whatever, you'll live. For those wondering, I imagine my OC, Annabelle, as Virginia (Ginny) Gardner.**

 ***mostly unedited***

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As was tradition, the students at Spencer Academy threw a party at the Dells the Saturday before school began. One last hurrah to celebrate, or more accurately _mourn_ , the end of the summer and the beginning of another school year. I didn't have much of a summer to mourn, unfortunately. Most of my summer was spent away in Texas at an elite soccer camp – my dad's idea. I loved soccer, I really did, I just didn't want to spend my summer away from the boys. We'd never been apart this long before and it was… strange, to say the least. I think I may have even _missed_ their over-protectiveness.

I had barely just arrived at my dorm and started unpacking my bags before Reid was busting down my door and dragging me to the legendary Spencer back-to-school party. It didn't matter that my door was locked or that we didn't have a ride to the Dells, Reid had no problem with using The Power.

Now, barely an hour since my plane had landed, I was walking beside Reid up a cliff that overlooked the party. I could hear the music and laughter of the kids below us, but the voices that really caught my attention were those of the three boys at the edge of the cliff in front of us.

"What's up fellas?" Reid spoke up, gaining the attention of the others. They all turned and saw me beside Reid.

"Hey Anna," Pogue wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "welcome back."

"Where were you?" Tyler asked Reid, "I stopped by to give you a lift."

Reid walked closer to the edge of the cliff and looked over, "Had things to do… like pick up Annabelle." He gave the other boys a look, who at least managed to look guilty. I was only half surprised when Reid was the only one who managed to remember I would be arriving today. Reid could be surprisingly thoughtful at times.

"How's the party?" I asked Pogue, deciding to give the boys a break from Reid's teasing glare.

"Don't know," Pogue answered, removing his arm from around me and stepping closer to the edge, "just got here."

"Well hell boys," Reid kicked some rocks over the edge of the cliff. "Let's drop in." He took a step over the edge, and while I couldn't see them, I was willing to bet his eyes were black as night. All four of the boys' eyes flashed black while they were using. It gave them almost a demonic look, and I was glad my eyes never turned black.

Almost immediately, Tyler followed Reid off the cliff. Falling over backwards and exclaiming, "Oh, shit yeah."

I couldn't help the giggle that escaped my lips; Tyler was cute when he swore. Like a little puppy barking at a Great Dane.

Caleb, of course, didn't approve. He yelled after Tyler, but he had already disappeared below into the fog. Yes, the use of The Power _was_ risky, but I was here, wasn't I? That should be reassurance enough for Caleb, but it wasn't. I guess I understood, based off of what happened to his dad. Still, I had faith that these boys would take care of me – that they wouldn't let the same thing that happened to my mom happen to me.

Pogue seemed to be on the same page I was on, "C'mon Caleb, it's not like it's gonna kill us… _yet_."

Caleb stood on the opposite side of me than Pogue and I wrapped an arm over each of their shoulders before the boys stepped off the cliff.

I probably could have made it down the cliff on my own, but I didn't really want to take the risk – _especially_ since that risk involved me falling over 50 feet if my theory was wrong. I didn't have The Power like the boys did, but I was able to "borrow" it from one of them, as long as we were in contact. I'm not sure if 50 feet is close enough contact for me to reach them, since I never used their powers that often.

Ever since I was fifteen and the boys took the oath, I've had access to their Power. It's a mutually beneficial relationship though, one that's been shared by our families since the Covenant was first formed in the 17th century.

The power is essentially **life** , and women have a greater life force than men. A simple example is pregnancy – women are able to create and support another life within their own bodies. The power works in a similar way, by taking an oath, the men are able to tie their Power to the life force of a woman in the Hawthorne family, _my family_. The connection is there no matter what, and the oath is not required, but it does strengthen that connection to the Hawthorne female. The men are able to draw from the woman's life force without aging her while slowing the effects of their own aging, but the woman does get some control over the men's' Power. She is able to use their Power as long as they are in contact, and she can also sense when they are using. Because they are connected, the men can feel when the woman is in pain and are even unable to harm her themselves using the magic. This comes from the need to protect the woman at all costs; she becomes the anchor and stabilizing agent of their power when they swear that oath to her, thus making it easy to harm the Covenant through her. In the past, the Hawthorne line was kept a secret, and the men of the original families had no public interactions with her in order to protect her identity. Now, that rule was much relaxed as the dangers to the Covenant were practically inexistent.

Though, harm can still come to the Hawthorne women. My own mother died in a car accident when I was very little. This is part of the reason behind the rapid aging of Caleb's father. He was addicted, and without my mother around to pull life from, he aged quickly so that he's nearly at the point of death.

I barely remember my mother; I hadn't even started getting my own powers when she died. The only Power I have on my own is clairvoyance and mediumship, not much but still hard to handle on my own. My father did his best to help me, gave me all my mom's old books. Thankfully, I never needed to use my Power much; I mostly read the books as a way to get closer to her. It's not like the Covenant is surrounded by **danger** like it was when it first formed. As long as Reid didn't do something stupid to expose us, we had nothing to worry about.

The music was much louder now and I wondered how long it would be until the cops found us. It was _tradition_ after all. Every year – we throw a party at the Dells and the cops bust us around 11 pm. Good thing we apparently decided to show up at 10:30… _not_. They party was in full swing now as I walked into the crowd alongside the boys.

Caleb was the first to spot Pogue's girlfriend, "Hey Kate."

Kate was standing with some blonde girl I didn't recognize. She was probably Kate's new roomie, since her old one graduated last spring.

Following cute-couple protocol, Kate rushed over to Pogue and threw her arms around his neck as he gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. They were sickeningly cute one minute and then yelling at each other the next; it made _no_ _sense_ to me. Of course, I had little relationship experience myself, thanks to the boys.

"Who's this?" Pogue asked the question we'd all been wondering.

"This is my new roommate." Kate answered and the blonde gave an awkward wave. _All_ the boys were staring at her, poor girl. Kate continued making introductions, "Sarah, this is Pogue Parry, Tyler Simms, Annabelle Hawthorne, Reid…"

"Garwin," he interrupted, "Reid Garwin. Good evening."

"Good evening." Sarah answered, shaking Reid's outstretched hand.

I tried to hold in a laugh, knowing what was coming next. Reid, loves to flirt, but is _terrible_ at it. Being a Son of Ipswich gets him an automatic in with the ladies, so I guess he doesn't have to be very good, but either way it was always very entertaining for me.

Sure enough, Reid began with, "You know, Sarah's my grandmother's name. You kind of remind me of…"

"Caleb Danvers," Much to my dismay, Caleb interrupted Reid, "And you don't bring to mind my grandmother in any way."

"Maybe next time, bud," I whispered in Reid's ear, giving him a pat on the back. He just glared at me and probably regretted bringing me here in the first place.

Sarah let out a laugh but barely had time to reply before Kira stepped in front of her and greeted Caleb. We all rolled our eyes; Kira was constantly flirting with the Sons of Ipswich. Actually, she was constantly flirting with most handsome, rich boys at our school and trust me, there were _plenty_ of those.

When Caleb didn't take his eyes off Sarah, Kira turned to the new girl and introduced herself, though I knew she couldn't be doing it to be nice.

"Oh, right, from the Boston public," Kira pointed out, trying to embarrass Sarah. "Tell me, how does one go about getting into Spencer from a public?"

"Why don't you give it a rest, Kira?" Caleb asked.

"Why don't _you_ give it a rest?" Aaron Abbott forced his way to stand in front of Caleb. _Man_ , everyone just wanted Caleb's attention today apparently.

"I don't want any trouble, Aaron," Caleb insisted.

"I'm sure you don't," Aaron smirked. "Hey Annabelle."

 _No, no, I was just kidding,_ I thought as Aaron winked at me, _I don't want any attention; give it all back to Caleb_.

All I could do was grimace as he looked me up and down. I wasn't even dressed nice, I was still in my sweatpants and V-neck I wore on the plane. I didn't even have time to grab a jacket before I was pulled from my dorm, _thanks Reid_.

"You posers make me wanna puke," some kid said from behind Aaron. I didn't know people actually used that word, like in _real life_. Interesting.

Ever the instigator, Reid butted in with, "Is that so?"

The fight, which was a pretty stupid one if you ask me, started escalating when Aaron shoved Caleb in the chest and to my surprise, a dude I didn't recognize stepped in-between Caleb and Aaron and put his hands on Aaron's chest. He let out a chucked before turning to Kira and saying, "You were being kinda bitchy."

The kid had guts, I had to admit, stepping in front of Aaron like that and insulting Kira. Before I had more time to think about it, I felt someone using the Power beside me and Aaron's friend began to puke all over Aaron's back. Everyone around us let out noises of disgust and none of us noticed that the music stopped until the DJ picked up a microphone and announced that the cops were on their way.

With that, all of the students took off running to their cars in hopes of making a quick escape. All of us were walking through the woods, even the guy who broke up the fight. I still didn't know his name. Did anyone know his name? He was certainly new here.

"Hey, nice going back there. Caleb." Caleb introduced himself to the new guy.

"Chase," he replied. "Thought that guy and I were about to go at it. His friend's puking sure came at an opportune time."

Now, I had a name to go with the face. A pretty cute face too, I have to admit. Too bad there wasn't room for him in our car.

We were almost to Tyler's hummer when I sensed something… something _wrong_. I had never felt anything like this before, but it was – **dark**. There was no other word to describe it. I stopped walking, my eyes scanning the forest around me. I didn't even notice when the boys stopped walking and stared at me.

"C'mon Anna," Tyler grabbed my hand and started pulling me forward, "we gotta _go_."

"But, I sensed…" I stopped talking when I noticed that Kate, Sarah, and Chase were staring at me too. "Never mind." It was probably nothing anyways.

I squeezed into the back seat of Tyler's hummer in-between Caleb and Pogue. I had accepted my fate as Queen of the Bitch Seat long ago.

"Sarah wants you man," Pogue taunted Caleb. Ew, they _better not_ have girl talk while I'm sitting right in-between them.

Reid grumbled something from the front seat, and Pogue started to tease him about being jealous when we hear Sarah call from nearby, "My car won't start!"

"Hop in with us," Tyler offered.

"And sit where?" I asked.

"I can't just leave it here," Sarah protested.

"I could fix it for you," Reid offered, still trying to impress Sarah apparently.

"Reid, don't," Caleb warned. He was always the most cautious, having seen first-hand what happens when their safety net, _me_ , fails. The addiction was still dangerous, even with me around.

Reid raised the hood and just kinda stared at the engine for a while as he pretended to work. It was pretty amusing to watch. I felt the familiar pull as he used the Power to fix Sarah's car.

Reid lowered the hood after a minute, "Try again."

Sarah's car started this time and she thanked Reid profusely, something I'm sure his ego did _not_ need. The sound of police sirens snapped us all to attention and Reid rushed back over to the Hummer. He opened the driver's side door, "Gotta bolt, move over."

"It's _my car_ ," Tyler insisted.

But even Caleb agreed with Reid, "Move over, baby boy, now."

We could see the lights from the sirens now as Reid stepped on the gas. Caleb seemed to be the only one not enjoying the chase. The Hummer skidded around several tight turns and I was surprised we hadn't lost the police already.

"Can't lose 'em," Reid complained.

"Oh, let me try," I unbuckled and turned around in my seat so I could face the cops behind us.

"Woah, hey," Caleb complained. He put a hand on the small of my back, ready to catch me in case we crashed.

I closed my eyes and tried to reach out with my mind, "Uh, right!" I couldn't read the police officer's mind exactly, but his impulses, those I could sense.

"What?" Reid yelled, "Us or them?"

"Them!"

Reid took a sharp left, to counter the police's right. The turn knocked me off balance, but Caleb was there to catch me.

"Right…no, uh, left! No…"

"Anna!" Reid yelled again, my directions had him swerving all over.

"Sorry, they keep changing their minds." I turned around to look at Reid in the rearview mirror, "and it's not like I have much practice!"

Another sharp turn had me falling again, and Caleb insisted that I sit back down and buckle up.

"Cut across Marblehead," Caleb instructed Reid, "we might as well have some fun too."

"Now we're talkin!" Tyler yelled.

As the Hummer pulled out of the trees, Reid stepped on the gas and headed straight for the cliff in front of us. I couldn't see it in the dark, but I knew it was there. The cops behind us began to panic and honk their horn and the guys stopped laughing, growing serious as they prepared to use their Power.

"Alright guys, you ready?" Reid asked.

Every pair of eyes in that Hummer turned black, well, except for mine. If I was to use their Power now, I would just end up draining it from the boys and causing more trouble. Instead, I just closed my eyes and leaned my head back on the seat. My eyes rolled behind my eyelids as Reid yelled "Harry Potter can kiss my ass!" and sent us over the edge.

My eyes opened again when the jeep dropped back to the ground, now behind the police car. At least the officers wouldn't have the guilt of thinking we were dead, though I'm not sure this alternative was much better. The officers probably thought they were going crazy now; one of them might even have to go to therapy.

I laughed along with the boys as Reid backed up the car and got us the hell out of there. When we were far enough away, the laughter died down and the car was mostly silent until Tyler spoke up, "Anna, you were heavier than I remember. What were you doing again this summer?"

"Working out, unlike you, obviously," I reached forward and pinched his biceps.

Laughter filled the car again as Reid drove down the highway. It was good to be home.

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 **A/N: Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Still don't own much, though I did get paid since I last updated so I do own slightly more now. Unfortunately, the Covenant is not one of those things...**

 **A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I've been on vacation. Please leave a review and let me know what you think.**

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 **Annabelle POV**

Reid and Tyler's dorm room was only a couple of doors down from mine, so they dropped me off at my room after the party at the Dells and said goodnight. As much as I wanted to sleep, the excitement of the party and the police chase had me all wired up and I was wide awake. I decided to finish unpacking my bags to tire myself out.

Sure enough, by the time 1:30 rolled around, I was tired and ready to get some sleep. I changed into some comfy pajamas and curled up in bed with the blankets tucked under my chin. I had only been asleep for thirty minutes before something woke me up. I was still half asleep and couldn't figure out what it was, but it somehow reminded me of that strange feeling I had in the Dells a couple of hours ago. I tried to go back to sleep, but just couldn't. As I lay in bed, I felt it again. Someone was using. This time the magic felt more sly or mischievous, rather than dark like it had earlier.

I got out of bed to investigate, not happy about being disturbed while I was sleeping. I wasn't usually woken up when the boys used at night, but someone was using some serious Power right now. I walked down the hallway, trying to sense where the power was coming from, but really I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn't even sure I had to ability to pinpoint the Power's source. I didn't have to look far though, Reid almost bumped into me when I turned a corner of the hallway.

"Reid! _Really_?" I whispered, rubbing my eyes to stay awake. _Of course_ it was Reid.

"What?" He asked.

I turned around and headed back to my room. "Waking me up with your using," I mumbled.

"But, I…" Reid walked with me down the hallway to his own room.

"No," I lazily smacked him across the chest. "I don't wanna hear about, I just wanna go back to sleep."

Reid just groaned and opened the door to his own room while I walked into mine. I had just lain back down on my bed when my cell phone started ringing. I smacked my hand on my nightstand and fumbled around for it with my eyes closed. When I found the phone, I put it to my ear without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Anna?" Caleb's voice came from the other end of the line. Did these boys _ever_ sleep?

"Mhmm." Words were hard at 2 am.

"Did you feel that?"

I sighed, "Yeah, Reid…Wait, did _you_ feel it?" The boys couldn't usually tell when another was using, but Caleb was the oldest and his Power was becoming more developed as he grew closer to the ascension.

"Yeah, I did. Woke me up." Caleb sounded a little out of breath. I wonder if feeling the Power freaked him out, it definitely took a while for me to get used to it.

"Me too."

"Does…does it always feel like that?"

"Hmm, no. Only when one of you uses a lot." Caleb was silent after that, he really liked to overthink things.

I spoke again, "Caleb?"

"Yes?"

"Can I go back to sleep now?" I _really_ wanted to sleep.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, Annabelle."

I tossed my phone to the other side of the bed after Caleb hung up and fell right back asleep. What felt like 5 minutes, but was really several hours later, my phone went off again. This time it was the alarm clock I set on my phone for soccer camp and forgot to turn off. By the time I tossed my sheets off the bed to find my phone hidden underneath the blankets, I was awake again. _Great_.

Well, I was up; there was no use in lying in bed any longer. I decided to go for a run around campus, there were lots of trails that ran through the woods that I often ran in order to stay in shape. I threw on some shorts and a tank top, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and left my room.

The campus was eerily quiet this early in the morning; I had forgotten how creepy this place could be sometimes. I walked through the halls quickly, eager to get outside and away from the dark hallways. Outside, everything was much brighter. It was just past 7 in the morning, and the sun had already risen and was lighting the early morning sky.

I ran down the trail on the east side of campus, my favorite running trail. I ran right underneath the rising sun that shone through the canopy of trees, making the red and orange leaves appear even brighter. There was even a small lake at the end of the trail and sometimes early in the morning there were deer drinking from the waters.

By the time I got back to campus, there were several students awake and wandering around outside. I ran up the front stairs and headed for the dining hall to grab some breakfast. The dining hall was full of half-awake students drinking coffee to overcome their hangovers from last night. I decided to skip the line for pancakes and instead just grabbed a banana and granola bar.

"Anna!" I heard someone call from behind me.

I turned around to see Kate with her arms held out to give me a hug before she noticed how sweaty I was. She quickly pulled her arms back and crinkled her nose.

"I seriously don't understand how we're friends," Kate said when she reached me. She hated sweating and exercise.

"Aw," I smiled sarcastically, "love you too, Kate."

Kate looked over her shoulder for a moment and I realized that there were two people standing behind her, Sarah and the new guy. I knew his name was Chase, but we had yet to be properly introduced.

"We're headed to the store in town if you want to come," Kate offered.

"Hmm…thanks, but I'd rather shower," I was now the one crinkling my nose. The new guy was **cute** , and the first time I met him I was wearing sweats and _now_ I was all sweaty. I hoped the smell of syrup and coffee in the room was strong enough to mask my own stench. I really needed to work on making better impressions.

Kate nodded, "Oh, right. Well, I'll text you if anything else happens."

"Thanks, Kate. It was nice to see you again," I told Sarah. I ignored Chase, I hoped that if I pretended he wasn't there that this wouldn't count as our second encounter and I'd have a chance to make up for it later. The three of them went off to get breakfast and I headed upstairs to shower.

There was a group of students in the hallway huddled around the newspaper stand and I stopped short when I saw the headline.

 **Student Found Dead of Overdose**

 ** _Police Break Up Annual Spenser Party_**

I had that same strange feeling again, of something dark and sinister. I took a step closer and looked at the picture of the boy on the headline.

"Did you know him?" I jumped when I heard the voice beside me. It was Leah, a girl I knew from class.

"Um, no. Did you?" I'd never seen him before.

"Not really," Leah told me. "He was new."

That explained why I'd never met him before.

"I heard he was Chase's roommate." A dark haired girl beside Leah said.

"Chase?" I asked. I knew of only a couple Chases at this school.

"Yeah, Chase Collins. The other new guy." The girl said like it was obvious.

There was still that strange feeling in my gut, and being surrounded by all of these people made me uncomfortable. I quickly left the hallway and jogged up the stairs to my room. I just needed to be alone for a while. Instead of taking a shower when I got to my room, I pulled out a chest from underneath my bed and used the key tied around my neck to unlock it.

Inside the chest was a few of my mother's old possessions, including a few of her books. I picked up one of her old diaries and gently brushed some dust off the cover before opening it. My mom's diaries were my favorite things to read, it made me realize that she went through many of the same struggles I am currently facing. Like me, my mother also wrestled with the strange feelings that come with sensing the Power. The Power is not always pure; sometimes it is dark and sinister, so much so that my mother actually felt sick to her stomach at times.

I spent so long reading her old diaries and books that I lost track of time. The door to the dorm room slammed open and brought me out of my trance. I quickly shoved the book I was holding back into the chest and pushed it under my bed. When I turned around, I saw my roommate, Jenna, struggling to carry her large suitcase into the room.

"Hey," I exclaimed, happy to see her. "I was wondering when you were going to get back."

Jenna sighed dramatically and dropped her suitcase at the foot of her bed. "My flight was delayed."

"Oh, that's too bad. How was London?"

Jenna proceeded to tell me all about her summer in Britain. Most of the kids here had rich families that could afford to go on fancy vacations. Jenna came from a wealthy European family, which was obvious from the slight British accent that she acquired from spending summers with her grandmother in London.

"So, Nicky's tonight?" Jenna asked when she finished her story.

"Oh," I'd totally forgotten about our Sunday night tradition. "Yeah, I just…need to shower first."

Quickly jumping up, I pulled off my work-out clothes and wrapped a towel around myself before heading to the showers.

I caught a glimpse of my reflection once I got to the girl's bathroom and winced. Some of my hair had fallen out of the ponytail and was sticking to my neck, and my skin looked more pale than usual. _Yeah_ , I **definitely** needed to make a better impression tonight.

I loosened the hair tie, causing my long blonde hair to fall around my shoulders, and turned on the shower. Wanting to finish as quickly as possible, I jumped under the water before it was hot and started washing. I felt much better once I was done showering, until I felt a sharp pain in my foot as I walked across the bathroom.

I hugged my towel around myself and hopped over to the closest bench so I could sit down and inspect my foot. When I pulled up my left foot and laid it across my right knee, the first thing I saw was the blood. When I looked closer at the cut, I could see a piece of glass imbedded in my foot. I sucked in a breath when I pulled out the glass and pressed a corner of my towel into the cut to stop the bleeding.

There were no other pieces of glass on the floor that I could see. Someone probably broke something in here and cleaned it up poorly. When the bleeding had stopped, I stood and limped back to my dorm.

Jenna had passed out on her bed by the time I got back; I guess the jet-lag has finally caught up with her. Trying not to wake her up, I skipped blow drying my hair and got dressed. Kate would be proud of my choice of clothing: a black skirt and halter top. I even managed to half-decently apply eyeliner and mascara. All in all, I was happy with how I looked. My skirt even showed off my legs, something I didn't do often, but _definitely_ should. I was a soccer player after-all, and I had **great** legs - I wasn't ashamed to admit.

I stopped by Reid and Tyler's room on my way out, hoping to catch a ride with them, but they had already left. So instead I hopped into my little Honda and drove to Nicky's on my own.

By the time I reached Nicky's, the bar was in full swing. Sunday night was teen night, the only night Spencer students were allowed into the bar. There was dancing, pool, foosball, and just the general mayhem that seemed to follow Spencer students. I knew the guys had to be here somewhere, but I was **starving** , having not eaten since breakfast, and I headed to the bar first to order some food.

I pushed my way to the counter and called out to Nicky, "Hey, an order of chicken fingers and fries, please."

Nicky wrote down my order and I sat in a bar stool to wait. Almost immediately some guy slid up next to me in the bar. By trying to attract the attention of one particular guy, I seemed to attract the unwanted attention of others. I guess it made since, but that didn't mean I had to like it. I certainly did not like how close he was standing next to me.

Mr. No-personal-space leaned in closer to whisper, "Hey gorgeous, come here often?"

Maybe I should change his name to Mr. Outdated-pick-up-lines. I smiled, batted my lashes and asked, "Well that depends, do you?"

"I do. I practically own this bar," he smirked and was more confident now.

I dropped my smile. "Then no, I don't come here often," I deadpanned. I turned back to the bar, hoping he would walk away.

I have too much faith in men, apparently, because he kept pushing on. "Aw come on, don't be like that. Smile for me. Just a little smile."

I looked at him again, but kept a straight face. I was getting tired of this real quick. An opportunity presented itself when someone set their drink down behind the guy. I pulled the Power from one of the guys in the room, I'm not sure which one, and caused the drink to spill all over his expensive jacket. The guy forgot all about me and turned to yell at whoever was behind him and rush away to dry off.

There was still soda all over the bar, and since it was technically my mess, I stood and leaned over the bar to grab some napkins so I could clean it up. I didn't even realize how precarious my position was, especially when wearing a skirt, until I heard a voice speak from behind me.

"Well, would you look at that." It didn't take long for me to realize the voice belonged to Reid. "Blue, cotton."

 _Shit_ , I knew what this was.

"Pink, lace,"… and that was Tyler.

"Boys, that girl hasn't worn panties since she was twelve." And there was Pogue.

I tensed and reached out to Reid, knowing he was the most likely to be the one using. Just as I felt him start to use, I blocked his Power. My shirt barely even ruffled in the slight wind he managed to create before I shut him off.

"What…?" Reid stared to ask, but stopped abruptly when I stood and turned around.

All three of the boys looked like deer caught in headlights.

"Really?" I asked as I walked towards them. I thought I heard Reid cuss under his breath. "I'm taking this," I snatched the money they had placed on the pool table for their bet.

"Um.." Tyler started to protest, but suddenly quieted when I shot him a glare.

"Oh, and by the way, none of you were right," I smirked and turned back to the bar. Pogue at least managed to laugh a little.

* * *

 **Omniscient POV**

"You guys are real tight, huh?" Chase asked Caleb. The two of them were playing foosball in a corner of the bar. Chase thought it was almost _too_ easy to make friends with these guys, especially Caleb.

"Families are real close, we kinda grew up together. Kinda like brothers…and a sister." Caleb said fondly. He was certainly opening up easy enough, making it easy for Caleb to learn more about them.

"Must'a been nice," Chase said with a bit of unnecessary force, luckily he was able to play it off by making the winning shot. He hated to admit he was a bit jealous. Why did his family have to be excluded? Then, he noticed something interesting Caleb had said. "Wait, sister?"

"Oh, um, yeah…Annabelle." Caleb was more closed off now, something Chase certainly noticed. "Best two out of three," Caleb suggested, trying to change the subject away from Anna.

Chase's father had warned him about the girl connected to the Sons of Ipswich, but he was told the girl would be harder to find…more hidden and protected. He had a feeling that Anna was _her_ , but he had to be sure. He didn't want to drive away Caleb by asking more questions, though. He would have to find a better way to get to know her.

Chase was going to accept Caleb's request for another game, until Pogue stepped in and asked to play. Knowing Pogue was already weary of him, Chase stepped back to let him play.

"Reid and Tyler are here," Pogue told Caleb.

"Where," Caleb asked. He need to talk to Reid about the using.

"Pool table, with Anna. Aaron and they boys are there too."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "Great, that's trouble." Reid and Aaron together were trouble enough, but when _Anna_ was there… Aaron always messed with Anna just to get on the boy's nerves. Everyone knew they were extremely protective of Anna.

Chase didn't appreciate being left out of the conversation; these guys had excluded him from enough already. "So Caleb tells me you guys are swimmers," Chase said.

Pogue barely looked up from the foosball game when he replied, "Spencer's best. State-finals, twice."

"I swam for Hastings," Chase smiled. "I was the free-style man."

"You won't be here," Pogue challenged Chase. Chase was interested now, he **liked** a challenge. "That's Caleb's swim."

Chase laughed, _of course_ it was. Suddenly, he got an idea, "What about Anna?" Chase asked Pogue, "does she swim?"

"No, soccer." Pogue tensed, so _he_ didn't like when people asked about Anna either. This meant Caleb didn't just have some sort of weird crush on her or something; both of the older Ipswich boys were protective of her. _Yeah, Anna was definitely worth checking out_ , Chase thought.

The music in the bar suddenly changed and Sarah pulled Caleb away from the foosball table and Pogue bumped into Chase on his way to sit with Kate. Chase realized this was his perfect opportunity to check out Anna, he remembered that Pogue mentioned she was by the pool table.

* * *

 **Annabelle POV**

I had tried to talk Reid and Tyler out of playing Aaron in pool, but of course they didn't listen to me. So now I was stuck watching the game, just waiting for a fight to break out. At least **I** was smart enough to sit away from Aaron where he couldn't bother me… _much_. I was sitting on a bar stool, but facing the pool table with my back leaning on the bar.

When I felt another guy come and stand beside me, I sighed and turned to face him with the deadpan stare I'd mastered tonight.

The guy chuckled and I realized it was Chase. "Had enough guys come up to you tonight?"

Great, now I looked nice and I was being rude to him. I smiled, trying to make up for my bad attitude, and he smiled back at me.

Then, I remembered he asked me a question. "You could say that," I answered.

"Well, I could leave you alone," Chase began, " _Or_ you could at least let me try."

"Try what?"

"My best pick-up line," Chase said, like it was obvious. The smirk on his face was contagious and I found myself trying not to smile back at him.

"Ok, shoot." I turned in the stool to face him better.

Chase cleared his throat before saying, "I was so enchanted by your beauty that I ran into that wall over there. So I'm going to need your name and number for insurance purposes."

My face was a mix of a smile and a grimace. Pick-up lines were always cheesy, even when a guy as handsome as Chase was delivering them.

"That bad?" He asked, though he didn't look bothered or discouraged.

"Worse," I teased.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I was feeling a little off today, but you definitely turned me on." Chase winked.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that one and I brought my hand up to my mouth to try and cover it up.

He held his hand out to me, "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Chase."

I took his hand and shook it, "Annabelle."

"So, I have your name, now all I need is your number…" Chase looked at me expectantly.

Part of me wanted to grab a pen and practically throw my number at him, another part of me liked being coy and flirty. Chase was charming, he was fun to talk to and mess around with. Luckily, the fight breaking out around us stopped me from having to make a decision.

Just as expected, Reid and Aaron started shoving each other and stepped outside together. I stood to follow them and out of the corner of my eye I saw Caleb and Pogue also heading for the back door.

"Stay here, Annabelle," Caleb told me. The stern look he shot me kept me from protesting.

"You guys need some help?" Chase asked.

"No man, just stay with the girls," Pogue told him.

I sat back down at the bar seat and pouted. Chase was still standing by me, but he didn't say much, I think he could tell I was in a bad mood now. My worry grew when Aaron and his friends came back inside, but the Sons of Ipswich remained outside. I just _knew_ they were arguing and fighting with each other.

I needed to be there with them; I could **help**. It was my job to limit their powers and help them control them, but the guys never let me. They always left me out of these things.

"Hey, are you alright?" Chase asked.

"Yeah," I replied, sitting up and crossing my legs. The movement caused Chase's eyes to flicker down to my legs. He stared at them for a moment before swallowing and looking back up at my eyes.

"You, uh, you wanna get out of here?"

"Yes."

There are many reasons why I said yes, but the strongest was because I knew the Sons would not approve. I was tired of them bossing me around and telling me when I could and could not get involved with the Power. So if they wanted to exclude me, _fine_. That just means I get to do what I want when their backs are turned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Covenant. If I did... do you really think I would be writing this story?**

 **A/N: I think I mentioned this before, but I'm going to space out the events of the movie and add in my own stuff in-between. This is the first chapter where I think you'll really start to see evidence of that.**

 **As always, sorry for any mistakes.**

* * *

 **Annabelle POV**

The first day of school. Every year it's different – a new beginning – but in some ways it's also the same. Old friends are reunited, new kids are judged, the nerds are early to class, the football players yell in the hallways, and everyone is wearing the same uniform.

Monday morning, and I was in my own room, wearing the Spencer uniform. The same uniform I wore last year and the year before: white button up, red striped tie, navy blue sweater-vest, and navy jacket paired with a grey skirt and tall stockings. As I examined myself in the mirror, I thought that I didn't look much different from last year. My hair was a bit longer maybe, but that was it. I'm a junior now, but I didn't feel like it. I expected to feel more, I dunno, _grown up_. I'm an upper classman now, I'm supposed to be thinking about colleges and careers and my future.

"Stop that," I heard Jenna say.

"Stop what?" I asked, turning away from the mirror that hung on the back of our door.

Jenna poked her head out of the little bathroom in our room, "I can feel you stressing from over here. Stop it."

I rolled my eyes, she knew me too well. "Are you ready to go?" I asked, straightening the red headband in my hair.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Jenna grabbed her backpack and followed me out of our dorm.

The hallways were filled with students, but most of them were just fooling around rather than heading to class. I was one of those 'nerds' who was always early. Though, I'm not sure if I was smart enough to qualify as a nerd, I was just a hard worker. Spencer was a great school, and it would be a waste for me to not learn as much as I could while I was here.

Jenna and I had different first period classes, so I entered the classroom alone and took a seat near the front. I took a notebook and two pencils, in case one ran out of lead, out of my backpack and set them on the desk in front of me. Quickly becoming bored, I opened my notebook to the first page and began to doodle. There were only a few other students in classroom 110 with me, but more soon came. The room was almost full when I felt someone sit to my left. I looked up and saw Caleb and Pogue; their hair was still wet from swim practice before class.

"Hey guys," I smiled at them and put my pencil down. They both smiled back at me and sat down to my left.

Professor Anders entered the classroom then, and the students quieted.

"Good morning," the professor began. "Mr. Danvers, Provost Higgins requests the pleasure of your company after class."

Pogue and I sent Caleb weird looks. Caleb was the 'golden child'; he rarely got into trouble and certainly not this early in the year. School has _literally_ just begun.

"Now, we're going to study four American contemporary writers of fiction." Professor Anders began writing the names on the board as he spoke, "First is Cormac McCarthy, then Tim O'Brien, Kent Haruf, and last but not least Stephen King."

"Yeaaah," I heard Reid's voice from behind me and to my left. "Dreamcatcher was the shit."

I should have known Reid would be in this class too. This was Advanced Literature, a senior class, so I knew Caleb and Pogue would be taking it. Reid was only a junior, like me, but he did like reading. Not many people knew Reid liked to read, they just expected him to be a troublemaker who didn't take his classes seriously. Reid was more complex than most gave him credit for…probably because he spoke out in class like he was doing now.

"Thank you, Mr. Garwin, but no. My choice is The Shining." The class quit laughing as the professor began speaking again. "Now, Cormac McCarthy was not only a novelist, but he was also a playwright and a screenwriter…"

Professor Anders was interrupted again, this time by a knock on the door. Whoever knocked did not wait for a reply before opening the door and entering the room. The few students still whispering grew quiet and two police officers entered the room.

"Officers," the professor addressed them. "What can I do for you?"

Caleb, Pogue, and I all grew tense. What if they were here about that night at the Dells? I thought it was too dark for the officers to see Tyler's license plate number, but what if it wasn't…

"We're here for a Mr. Chase Collins," the shorter officer spoke loudly to the entire class. The taller officer stood behind his partner with his hands on his hips, resting on his belt.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, until I realized the name the officer had called. _Chase?_ There was noise behind me and I could hear someone walking down the stairs by my right. Chase walked right past me and I looked up at him. He looked just as confused as I felt.

The tall officer put his hand on Chase's shoulder and led him out of the room without saying anything. As soon as the door closed behind them, the class erupted into chatter and whispers. Professor Anders tried to get the class back under control, but it was useless now.

"I wonder what he did?"

"Drugs? I heard they were doing room searches today."

"No, he doesn't look like a druggie. Maybe alcohol."

"What about the kid at the Dells? Chase was his roommate."

All the students around me were whispering and it was hard _not_ to listen to them. But it was just gossip, I had to remind myself. The kid at the Dells….surely they didn't mean Chase had anything to do with… with _that_.

I thought back to last night, when I left Nicky's with Chase. I drove us back to Spencer and we snuck into the kitchens. He picked the lock to the freezer and we used vanilla ice cream and left over cookies to make ice cream sandwiches. We sat on the floor outside the freezer and he put ice cream on my nose. Then, he walked me to back to my dorm and we said goodnight. He was a gentleman; he held my hand and opened doors for me and didn't try to come inside my dorm with me at the end of the night.

Surely someone so nice and charismatic couldn't have done something like **that** …

 _No_ , of course not.

* * *

 **Omniscient POV**

The room was less private than they would have liked, but the officers made do with what they had available to them. Provost Higgins had provided Officers Ballard and Freeland with a conference room for them to conduct their student interrogations in. The partners were the lead investigators in the death of Spencer Academy student Charles Reding at the Dells Saturday night. Since Charles was a Spencer student, the officers decided to start their investigation here, with his roommate Chase Collins.

Chase sat on one side of the long conference table across from the two officers. The officers had yet to speak – trying to intimidate him, he guessed – but he wasn't bothered. He rested his forearms on the table and laced his fingers together while he read a poster on the wall behind the officers.

The shorter officer, whose nametag read 'Ballard', opened up the file resting on the table in front of him. "Do you know this boy?" he asked, putting a picture in front of Chase.

Chase only glanced at the picture before replying, "Yes."

"How?" The other officer asked.

"He was my roommate."

"Did you know him?"

"Not well, we had met that day."

"What day?"

"The day that…Saturday."

Officer Ballard pulled something else out of the folder and threw it on the table.

"Do you recognize this?"

 _Shit_ , Chase thought….He did recognize the object. It was his student ID. He pulled his eyebrows together, and reached for the slim plastic ID. He held it up, as if he was examining it.

"This is my student ID…I'd thought I lost it," Chase kept up the appearance of confusion, "Where did you get it?"

"It was in the back seat of Charles Reding's car. Mind telling us how it got there?"

Chase shrugged, "It must've…fallen out of my pocket." Chase looked down at his damned card again.

"You were in his car? Where the victim was found dead?"

"I…yes." There was no use denying it, that would only make him appear more suspicious. His best bet was to cooperate.

The officers just stared and so Chase elaborated. "Charles gave me a ride to the Dells that night."

"But not a ride home?"

"No…I lost track of him early in the night, and when the cops came…the Dells was chaos. I didn't know if Charles would wait for me, so I left with some other people I met that night."

"And when you arrived back at Spencer? You didn't notice he did not make it back to the dorms?"

Chase held back a smirk; they were believing his story. "Like I said, I didn't know him well. I thought maybe he was with a girl, or the cops had caught him on the way out."

"Why didn't you notify the school or the police the next day when he hadn't returned?"

Chase gave them an odd look, "The newspaper had already published his story by Sunday morning, I knew what had happened to him. I didn't notify anyone because I don't have any relevant information to offer on this case."

"You don't?"

"No sir, I've just told you all I know, which isn't much."

Officer Ballard leaned back in his chair and studied the student in front of him. He seemed indifferent to the situation, but not enough so to be guilty. He had only known Charles for a day, so his death wouldn't be enough to evoke a large reaction. In fact, Officer Ballard thought that a heavy emotional response from Chase would have made him seem guiltier.

"Thank you, Mr. Collins. You may return to class."

* * *

 **Annabelle POV**

I tried to balance my tray full of fish tacos and Spanish rice on one hand while I used the other to reach for the dulce de leche on the dessert table. A student bumped into my back and I struggled to steady my tray with both hands, the dessert forgotten. Forgotten until it was placed onto my tray, at least. I looked up once I was sure my food was secure and saw Chase standing before me.

"You have a sweet tooth, don't you?" He smirked down at me.

"Well…yeah." I looked at him again and studied his face. He didn't look like someone who just got out of a police interrogation.

Chase frowned when he saw how I was looking at him, "Are you going to ask me about it?"

"No," I turned and walked away from the lunch line.

"No?" Chase echoed as he followed me past a row of tables.

"No," I shrugged, "you're not the only student they've pulled out of class today."

Several other students had been taken in for questioning throughout the morning. It didn't take long for the news to spread across the student body, and it took even less time for everyone to figure out what the connection was between all of the students. It was the dead kid at the Dells. Chase was his roommate, Lindsey was his tutor, Hannah was a girl he was seen flirting with, Mark was his only known friend, and Adam had given him the invitation to the party at the Dells.

"And, I've been thinking about it," I continued, when Chase didn't answer.

"You've been thinking about me?" His smirk was back.

I playfully rolled my eyes, "Yes, and I know you didn't do it."

"What makes you so sure?" Chase was walking beside me now as I weaved between the tables. He had a look in his eyes that I couldn't decipher.

"Because," I shrugged, "you're better than that."

"Oh," Chase stopped walking and fell behind.

I stopped too and looked over my shoulder. Chase was staring at a blank spot on the wall. "Are you coming?" I asked, and his eyes snapped back to mine. I gestured with my head over my shoulder to where the Sons were sitting at a table with Kate and Sarah. Chase started walking again and followed me to the lunch table.

The remainder of the school day was fairly uneventful. Only half a minute now, and the first day of the semester would be over. Jenna sat next to me, tapping her foot impatiently, staring at the clock just like I was. The dismissal bell rang before Professor Horan had finished speaking, but all of the students stood up anyways and rushed out into the hallways.

Jenna and I joined all of the other celebrating students in the hall. Some were making late-afternoon plans while others were either going upstairs to the dorms or outside to get some fresh air. Pushing past a group of girls standing in the hallway, Jenna and I made our way to the west wing of campus, where the athletic locker rooms were located.

There were already some girls in the soccer locker room, getting dressed for practice today. Returning players, like Jenna and I, already had our own designated lockers with Spencer issued practice uniforms inside. The freshmen, or other new girls wishing to try out for the team, had to bring their own clothes and use the empty lockers at the far end of the locker room.

I changed into my red shirt and navy blue shorts as quickly as I could before sitting on a bench and putting on my shin-guards, long navy socks, and cleats. Reaching for the hair-tie on my wrist, I pulled my hair back into a ponytail.

"Ready?" Jenna asked. Her locker was right beside mine.

I nodded and followed her out the back door and onto the athletic fields located behind the school. The soccer players weren't the only ones using this area. The football team was running through warm-up drills on the football field, the cheerleaders were practicing stunts, and several students were hanging out in the stadium seats or along the fences.

The girls' soccer coach, Coach Stevens, was waiting on the track and leading some of the girls through warm-up stretches. The first day was always the same – Coach Stevens made us all run a mile to judge our fitness levels. All players wanting to make the team had to run the mile in less than seven minutes. Team try-outs technically started today.

After all the girls were warmed up, Coach Stevens led us down the track to the starting line. We walked past the stadium seats and I saw all four Sons of Ipswich sitting there. Tyler gave me a thumbs up when he saw me looking. My eyes widened when I saw Chase was sitting with them too. I raised a hand to wave at the boys when I felt someone bump into my shoulder as she walked past me. It was Kira. Unfortunately, she was also a member of the team.

I dropped my hand and glared at her back.

"You better beat her this year," Jenna said from beside me.

"Oh, I plan on it," I smirked. I had been training for this mile all summer and I was finally going to beat Kira.

It was the hottest part of the day, and the sun beating down already caused sweat to form on the back of my neck. Well, if I was going to sweat, I might as well make it worth it. I lined up in-between Kira and Jenna on the starting line, my left foot was placed slightly in front of my right and I leaned forward.

"On my count," Coach Stevens held up a stop-watch. "One" – Kira inched forward – "Two" – I pushed back with my shoulder when I felt Kira's elbow dig into my side – " **Three!** "

All of the girls started in a sprint, but by the time we reached the end of the first straight-a-way, Kira and I were in the lead. We kept a quick pace, neither of us willing to slow down, but I was confident that she would grow tired and back off before I did. We started running past the stadium seats when I felt a flutter in my stomach, a sign that someone was using. I quickly shut-off the Power, but doing so caused me to stumble and fall behind. I sent a glare over to the guys in the bleachers before trying to catch back up to Kira.

It didn't take long for me to catch her, Kira averaged about a six-minute mile, and I could now run one in five. I was breathing heavily, but managed a small smile when I saw her slowing down. Pushing my legs to run faster, I sped up on the corner and passed her. Kira struggled to catch up behind me.

I was on my own for the rest of the mile, except for when I passed a couple of other girls on my last lap. I tried to encourage them to keep running, but most of them were too tired to keep going.

"Five-O-nine," Coach Stevens called out my time as I crossed the finish line. I could hear the boys cheering me on.

Trying to cool down, I walked over to the water bottles and took a drink from one. Kira was just finishing by the time I made it back to the finish line; she glared when she saw me. Deciding to ignore her, I cheered on the rest of my teammates as they all finished their mile.

"Gimme that," Jenna reached for my water bottle after she crossed the finish line. "That was awesome," she smiled at me once she had caught her breath.

"Alright, ladies," Coach Stevens stole our attention before I could reply to Jenna. "Line up on the baseline."

The rest of practice was spent running through simple drills, nothing too challenging. Tomorrow, the harder stuff would begin.

"Alright, ladies, you're dismissed," Coach Stevens ended practice for the day. "Good work today, Annabelle," she told me as I jogged off the field.

I was headed straight to the locker rooms with the other girls, when I noticed the Sons standing by the fence and jogged over to them instead.

"Hey," Reid called as he saw me, "nice work!"

He held up a hand for a high-five, but I chose to hit his stomach instead of his hand. All the other boys laughed.

"What did you think you were doing?" I asked angrily.

"Wha…" Reid barely got a word out before I interrupted him again.

"Reid, I don't need your help to beat Kira. I can do just fine on my own."

"Wait," Pogue spoke up, "you were _using_?"

Reid looked sheepish, "Just a little…"

"That's _not okay_ , Reid," Caleb joined in.

Okay, I felt a little guilty now, I didn't mean for everyone to gang-up on Reid. "Guys, it's okay. I blocked his Power anyway….where's Chase?" I knew I saw him here earlier…

Caleb sent me a weird look, "He left not long ago…had something to do."

"Oh," I wanted to ask _where_ he went, but I didn't like the way the guys were looking at me. It was the same weird looks I got from them when I showed up at our lunch table with Chase. It was okay when one of the Sons invited Chase anywhere, but when I did it…

"Well, I'll see you guys later," I waved goodbye and continued on my walk to the locker rooms.

By the time I got there, all the other girls were gone, even Jenna. I sighed and started to unlace my shoes when I felt something weird. I shook it off, assuming it was one of the guys using just now. I took off my shirt and threw it in the laundry bin when I had that weird feeling again, but it felt stronger this time. There was a prickling feeling on the back of my neck, like… like someone was **watching me**.

I turned around, but no one was there. _You're just being paranoid_ , I scolded myself. I faced my locker again and removed my shorts, leaving me in spandex and a sports bra. The air suddenly grew colder and I could see the air leaving my lips as I took a breath. The strange feeling came again; I was seriously freaked out now.

I turned around again…and screamed.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, please take a moment to review :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Covenant, only Annabelle and whatever else you don't recognize.**

 **A/N: I'm so so sorry this update has taken so long. Senior year of university is harder than you'd think, especially since I have a job and am currently interviewing and looking for a full-time job for when I graduate. I hope to update more frequently since I've gotten a few callbacks for interviews and stuff, so at least the job part of my life is looking good, so hopefully that'll relieve stress and time so I can update more.**

 **As always, sorry for any mistakes.**

* * *

 **Annabelle POV**

 _I turned around, but no one was there. You're just being paranoid, I scolded myself. I faced my locker again and removed my shorts, leaving me in spandex and a sports bra. The air suddenly grew colder and I could see the air leaving my lips as I took a breath. The strange feeling came again; I was seriously freaked out now._

 _I turned around again…and screamed._

"Jenna!" I yelled, placing a hand over my chest. I could feel my heart pounding against my rib cage. "What are you doing?!"

"Me? Wha…" Jenna huffed. My screaming had freaked her out too. "Why are you _yelling_?"

I took a deep breath and leaned my head back against my locker. "You scared me. I thought I was alone."

"You're such a freak." Jenna shook her head and threw a towel at me, "go take a shower."

After I showered and Jenna and I dropped our gear off in our room, it was about time for dinner. By the time we made it down to the cafeteria, the room was crowded with other Spencer students. Most of those in the cafeteria had already gotten food and were seated and eating, therefore Jenna and I didn't have to wait long for our own food.

Despite the crowd, it didn't take long for me to spot the Sons sitting at our usual table in the back corner of the cafeteria. I was about to head over there when I saw Jenna shuffling her feet and looking around the cafeteria, probably looking for some of her other friends to sit with.

"You know you can sit with us, right?" I asked her.

"Yeah…" Jenna trailed off, looking unsure. She had always been hesitant to hang out with the Sons and me whenever I invited her. I used to think it was because they're a pretty close-knit group, which can be intimidating, but now I had a new theory. A theory that had something to do with Jenna and Tyler Simms.

"Come on, then." I smiled at her and nudged her shoulder. Thankfully, she followed me.

There were exactly two seats at the table, right between Chase and Tyler. I took the seat beside Chase before Jenna could, partly because I wanted to sit by Chase and partly because I wanted to force Jenna to sit next to Tyler.

"Hey guys," I greeted everyone as I set my tray on the table, "you all know Jenna, right?"

Jenna shyly waved and there were a few grunts and 'hello's in greeting. When Jenna tried to talk to me, I turned to Chase instead. I hoped that she'd talk to Tyler if I ignored her.

"What? No desert tonight?" Chase asked me.

"Oh," I laughed, looking down at my desert-free tray, "I guess not."

"That's okay; we can sneak down to the kitchens again tonight." Chase smirked at me. He looked so handsome in his uniform and that damn smirk on his face was so mischievous, I wanted to say yes. I really _really_ wanted to say yes, but…I made a promise to a friend.

"I'd love to," I sighed, "but I can't. I'm staying over at Caleb's tonight."

At Chase's confused look, I rushed to explain. "It's not – not **ya know** …. It doesn't _mean anything_. Caleb and I are not anything…I mean we're something, we've been friends since like _forever_ , but not **that** type of anything. We're just – I'm just helping him out with… something…"

I groaned and rubbed a hand down my face. _That was_ _ **terrible**_ _._ I looked up in surprise when I heard Chase chuckling next to me.

"You don't owe me an explanation Anna, really, its okay."

"Thanks," I smiled at him. "Speaking of Caleb; where is he?"

"Oh, uh," Chase looked around the table, "I think he mentioned having a date with Sarah."

"Oh," I forced a smile, "good for him."

To be honest, I was a little caught off guard. Caleb wasn't one to move quickly, he was cautious and over-thought everything. He had never dated a girl or brought one into the group that he hadn't already known for a long time and trusted. But with Sarah, apparently there was something about her that just, made him throw all that aside.

"Hey, Chase." Kate caught our attention from across the table. "Did you manage to write down the homework Mrs. Lee assigned? I forgot to write it down."

"Oh yeah, it's in my room. I can drop the list by your dorm later." Chase told her.

"Thanks," Kate smiled and batted her lashes at Chase, causing Pogue to glare at him. Chase just glared back.

"Hey," I whispered, smacking Chase on the chest, causing him to look down at me. "Stop that. It's not his fault Kate is a flirt."

"Well it's not my fault either," Chase argued.

"Please?" I asked, sticking my bottom lip out a little just for good measure.

Chase playfully rolled his eyes, "Fine, only because you asked nicely."

* * *

 **Omniscient POV**

"What?" Kate feigned innocence when Pogue's glare shifted from Chase to her. "I was just asking for homework help."

"Yeah, sure you were." Pogue knew better than that. Kate was a flirt, it was what initially drew him to her, but she seemed to flirt extra heavily with Chase. Pogue didn't like it. Pogue wasn't even sure he liked **that guy** in general.

"Oh please," Kate waved her hand at Pogue in dismissal, "what are you even worried about? He's not even interested. Chase clearly has a thing for Anna."

"No, he does n…" Pogue started to stay, until he looked over at Anna and Chase. The two were laughing about something. Anna was smiling up at him and Chase was sitting way too close to her. Pogue didn't like the look in Chase's eyes either, Pogue couldn't quite pinpoint what the look meant, but it gave him an uneasy feeling.

 _Yeah, he definitely didn't like that guy_.

* * *

 **Annabelle POV**

I knew the nice weather we'd been having was too good to be true. Ipswitch was infamous for its gloomy, dark weather year-round. The rain was pouring down as I stood under the school's front porch, trying to look out into the dark. Caleb told me earlier that he'd pick me up, but I couldn't see his car. Of course, I was assuming that he'd leave on his mustang's lights. When I looked closer and my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could see the outline of a car on the school's front drive. Caleb's mustang was so dark that I could barely see it.

I adjusted the heavy backpack on my shoulders before darting out into the rain towards Caleb's car. Running straight to the passenger door, I reached for the handle and attempted to throw the door open, but it wouldn't budge.

Annoyed, I knocked on the window. "Caleb? Why is your door locked?"

I thought I heard something inside the car, but when the door didn't open, I started to head back to the school. I couldn't see into the car, maybe Caleb wasn't even in there. He could have left and gone into the school to look for me or something.

Suddenly, I heard the car door open behind me, and I turned around. I was thoroughly annoyed now. Annoyed and wet. To my surprise, or maybe only half-surprise, Sarah climbed out of the passenger seat of the car and headed into the school, but not without giving me a look as she ran past me. I quickly climbed into the passenger seat she vacated and closed the door.

"Uh, sorry," Caleb told me. "Lost track of time."

"Mhmm, I can see that," I reached over and ruffled his already messed up hair. "You just better hope none of my stuff got wet." I put my backpack on my lap and opened it to view its contents. Luckily, everything looked fairly dry.

"Thanks for your help, by the way," Caleb said as he started his car and drove away from the school.

"Yeah, no problem. It's kinda my job." The conversation was suddenly serious. "You said you and Pogue have both seen the darkling?"

"Yeah," Caleb ran a hand down his face, like he always did when he was frustrated or worried. "It visited both of us."

"Hmmm," I hummed, not necessarily agreeing with Caleb.

Caleb looked over at me, "What?"

"I just – I'm not sure I believe it's a **darkling**." I saw Caleb about to interrupt me, so I kept talking before he could. "Darklings don't _visit_ people, they have to be summoned, or conjured, and that takes a lot of Power – more Power than I think you boys have. There's a whole list of possible spirits or entities it could've been, and a lot of them are more likely than a darkling."

"You think?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah, plus I'm also just really _hoping_ it isn't a darkling." I looked out the window and watched the rain run down the glass, not wanting to meet Caleb's eyes this time when he looked over at me.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, darklings are usually summoned for a reason. One book I have calls them 'vengeful spirits'. Warlocks have used them for a variety of reasons in the past, but because the darklings are made of the newly-dead, they're particularly useful for _sending messages_. Since the darkling is only recently dead, it still has a small connection to our world. Some powerful witches and warlocks have even been able to communicate with darklings. If someone did in fact send you a darkling, then they're powerful, and I doubt they're just trying to say 'hello'."

The car was silent after that. My eyes followed the rain drops as they slid down the window, some joining with other drops, and others racing to the bottom of the window. I was rooting for the largest drop, the one that had picked up two other droplets on its path, to win the race to the windowsill, when Caleb made a sharp turn and caused the fat rain drop to fly off the window. I pouted and turned to face the front again when I realized we had turned onto our street.

Arbella Avenue. Home to the most expensive homes in town, the oldest families of Ipswich live on this street, including my own and all of the Sons' families. The Arbella was one of the English flagships that first founded this area and established several colonies, including Salem, Charlestown, and Ipswich.

Caleb drove right past my house and straight to his own. I briefly thought about stopping by to see my father, but decided against it. It worried me that the lights were on in Caleb's house; I was hoping that his mom would be asleep by the time we arrived.

Caleb pulled into the long driveway and shut-off the car. He must've seen me worriedly looking at the living room lights.

"Don't worry, she doesn't even need to know you're here if you don't want her to," Caleb squeezed my shoulder.

"Yeah, I'd really rather she didn't." I chewed on my bottom lip in worry.

According to the old rules of the Covenant, the Sons and I are supposed to keep our distance from each other, in order to 'protect the secrets of the Coven' or whatever. We obviously didn't follow those rules, since we're friends and all, but I really didn't see a point in them any longer. In past generations that rule had become more and more relaxed. Either way, the Sons parents didn't seem to approve and they didn't really hide their feelings on their distaste of me. Caleb's mom though, she disliked me even more than the rest, for _other_ reasons. Probably something to do with the fact that my mom is the reason for her husband's aging. Not that it was my mom's fault, or **mine** for that matter, it's not like my mother _wanted_ to die… Caleb and I probably wouldn't have even been friends if my mother and his father hadn't first been good friends. It was the only reason I got to spend time with Caleb and the other Sons when we were kids.

So when Caleb and I climbed out of the car and went in the front door, I headed straight upstairs as silently as I could in hopes of avoiding another encounter with his mother, even going so far as to take off my wet shoes so they wouldn't make a slopping sound as I ran up the stairs. I sat on his bed and started unloading things from my backpack while Caleb was downstairs speaking to his mother and hopefully putting her to bed.

I heard Caleb open to door, so I started pointing things out on the bed, "So, I brought my mom's old books on spirits, some candles, chalk..." I trailed off when I finally looked up and saw Caleb wasn't really listening. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Caleb ran a hand down his face again, telling me he was **not** okay, but I wasn't one to push. He would talk if he wanted to, I wasn't going to force it. _But_ , I could provide a distraction.

"Well, I brought everything we need for a protective circle. You don't mind me drawing on your floor with chalk, do you?"

Caleb chuckled at that, "No, I don't. Do you need help?"

"Mmm, you can't really help with the witchy stuff, but you can help me move your bed out of the way."

Caleb and I got right to work after that. When we were done, Caleb's bed was sitting in the center of the room with the seven-pointed star-and-circle surrounding it.

"Alright, I hope this works." I stood up after I lit the final candle and wiped some excess chalk on my sweatpants.

Caleb's head that was buried in one of my books whipped up, "You _hope_?"

I just shrugged, "It's not like I have much, or really _any_ , experience with spirits. I'm just working with what I've read."

Caleb closed the book in his lab and handed it back to me as I sat beside him on the bed. "So, now what?"

"Now, we wait. There's not much more we can do at this point." I turned my body so I could lean against the pillows.

After a minute Caleb mimicked my position on the bed. The house was quiet except for the rain outside and the only light was from the candles on the floor. One might even consider this romantic, the thought made me laugh.

"What?" Caleb's head turned to the side and he smiled at me.

"Oh, umm," I tried to think of something else to say other than what I was actually just thinking about. "Remember when we were kids and we would try to fit all five of us onto a bed."

Caleb chuckled too. "That was always a disaster. You were a kicker in your sleep."

"What?" I protested through a laugh, "No I wasn't!"

"How would you know? You were sleeping. I remember whoever slept next to you always ended up with bruises."

I only realized that I had fallen asleep when I started to wake up again. Then, I realized _why_ I was waking up. There was a dark presence in the room, I could feel it. My eyes snapped open then and I gasped at what I saw standing at the foot of the bed, just outside of the circle.

"Caleb," I shoved his shoulder, not taking my eyes off of the spirit in front of me. Caleb shot awake much like I did.

The darkling, or whatever it was, just stood at there, flickering in and out of focus, making me think that whoever conjured it didn't have much control. Its eyes were white and cloudy and its mouth was held together by sections of skin that stretched across thin lips.

"What is it?" Caleb whispered.

"I'm not sure," I rolled onto my knees and moved closer to the spirit. Caleb grabbed my ankle to try and hold me back, but I wasn't worried. The circle seemed to be working and I wasn't planning on leaving it.

"What do you want," I whispered to the creature this time. I could reach out and touch it now if I wanted to. Not that I wanted to…

The spirit slowly tilted its head and I thought it was about to say something when it suddenly opened its mouth and screamed as it disappeared. I nearly screamed too, as I fell back against Caleb and he wrapped his arms around me.

"I told you. Freaky." Caleb was still whispering.

I could only manage a nod. It's safe to assume that we didn't get much sleep after that.

* * *

 **A/N: Reviews are always appreciated (:**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Covenant, only Annabelle and whatever else you don't recognize.**

 **A/N: Look how fast I updated! Also, if y'all like Game of Thrones, I've written a story for that too – it's on my page if you wanna check it out.**

* * *

 **Omniscient POV**

"So, what does Anna think? Was it a darkling?" Pogue asked as he leaned on the lockers beside Caleb's. They were in the Swim Locker Room, getting ready for their morning practice.

Caleb was putting books in his locker while he answered. "She's not sure. There's a whole range of possibilities on what it could've been, and a darkling doesn't seem likely."

"Why not?" Pogue wasn't so sure why he was dead-set on this thing being a darkling. Maybe because it was the type of creature he knew most about. Darklings are mentioned often in The Book of Damnation, the only book he's really read on the subject, so when he saw the spirit – his mind went straight to the only type he's really known or heard much about.

"The way Anna described it – Darklings don't operate on their own free will, so this isn't just a dead kid visiting us, someone is controlling him." Caleb closed his locker and started walking out to the natatorium, Pogue followed beside him.

"So your original theory was right then – Reid's just trying to scare us."

Both boys looked across the room to where Reid was talking to Tyler. The two boys were joking around and pushing each other towards the pool until Coach yelled at them and started practice. Well today wasn't actually practice, it was _tryouts_ , not that the Sons were worried. The top seven swimmers from each event would make the team.

Caleb shook his head and lowered his voice now that they were in a more crowded area. "No, Anna doesn't think so either. Summoning a darkling takes a lot of Power apparently, more Power than Reid, or likely any of us, has."

"So, what then?" Pogue asked. He was standing beside Caleb, but they were not facing each other. Both boys faced the pool where Tyler was lined up with the other breaststroke swimmers. Coach blew the whistle and the swimmers dove into the water.

"She thinks it might just be a troubled spirit. Some people that die young or tragically, like the kid at the Dells, their spirits linger because they have yet to accept their death. She thinks he was just drawn to us because of our Power – it gives us a close link to the supernatural world."

"And you trust Anna's opinion on this?" Pogue just wasn't sure he believed that some random spirit was visiting them.

"Even Anna knows she's not an expert, but she certainly knows more than us." Caleb shrugged. "But she did give me one of her family's old books so I could do some more research myself."

He didn't mention it out loud, but Caleb was surprised that Anna even offered to lend him the book in the first place. Not only was the book heavy, but it was _old_. He spent more time than he'd like to admit clearing his locker of wet swim-gear so he could keep the book in there during practice without damaging it. He was honored that Anna trusted him with such a valuable heirloom, and he certainly didn't want to betray that trust.

Pogue just tilted his head in agreement; Anna really was the only, and therefore _best_ , source for them to go to with these types of things.

"Look at that," Reid forced his way between Pogue and Caleb and put an arm around each of their shoulders; Though, Pogue immediately pushed it off. "Baby boy might just win this one."

The three Sons not racing began to cheer on Tyler. He ended up finishing in second, still an impressive feat when competing against more experienced seniors. The butterfly was next, Pogue's race. Pogue had long been Spencer's #1 in this event, so it was no surprise when he won.

Chase approached Caleb then, "He really is good."

"The best," Caleb nodded. He realized then that he hadn't seen Chase all morning, not that he had been paying much attention. "I hear you're swimming me in freestyle."

Chase just raised an eyebrow and smirked, "That's what they tell me."

"Let's see what you got," Caleb smiled. He liked competition, and something told him that Chase would be tough to beat.

Chase just smiled back challengingly. He was determined to beat Caleb. He wanted to be these guys' friend, to get close to them, but he wanted to be a threat to them too. He wanted to make Caleb feel like he was losing control. Plus, he didn't really like that Anna spent the night with him last night. He was supposed to be the one dating Anna, or he wan- **needed** to at least. Getting close to her was the best way for him to harm the Sons, and Caleb was making it difficult.

They were even for most of the race; every time one would pull ahead, the other would catch up just as quickly. With each lap, Chase was becoming more and more frustrated with the turn of events. Luckily, he had an advantage. Well technically, they both had the same advantage – but Chase was willing to use it and that's what made him **better**.

As they approached the finish line, Chase's eyes flashed black and Caleb suddenly lost control. At the same time that Chase's hands slapped the wall, Caleb hit his head and was instantly knocked out. Chase reached the surface, ready to celebrate, when he saw the worried looks on the faces of those standing by the pool.

Deciding to play the nice guy, Chase dove back under the water before anyone else could and pulled a sinking Caleb back to the surface. When they reached the top, Pogue and Reid grabbed Caleb and pulled him the rest of the way out of the water and set him on the floor.

Still ready to celebrate his victory, Chase grew frustrated when he noticed that everyone's attention was on Caleb. Caleb was unconscious and Chase had just proven that he was the best, yet Caleb **still** got all of the attention. He just didn't get it. It made him angry and he had to consciously hold himself back from using his Power in front of everyone. Chase wasn't even sure what he would do if he allowed himself to let go, he just knew that he wanted to do _something_. The Power made him feel strong and important – and that's what he needed now. It's how Chase thought he should feel all of the time.

He was stronger than the Sons, and he wanted to prove it – but he couldn't, not yet. Right now, he had to be _nice_ and become friends with these people. The very people who underestimated his family for centuries, who left his family to die. His revenge would be much more painful, though, if they trusted him. And Chase would do whatever it took to make that happen. Even – no, _especially_ – if that meant getting close to Caleb, who was just now waking up.

The Sons and Chase stood over Caleb as he grunted and slowly opened his eyes.

Pogue was the first to speak, "You okay, man?"

"There you are," Chase smiled at him, looking relieved that Caleb was waking up. "Nice going there for a second."

Caleb closed his eyes again and winced when he felt a major headache building.

"You knocked your head pretty good," Tyler explained. "Lucky for you, Chase was there to get you out before you sucked up the pool."

"He also whipped your ass," Reid added, helpful as ever.

Caleb didn't really remember what happened, all he knew was that he was swimming as hard as he could to beat Chase. He must have miscounted and lost track of his strokes, causing him to swim too far and knock his head on the wall. That's what sounded like happened at least, he didn't really remember much.

"C'mon man, let's get you up." Pogue grabbed Caleb's forearm and helped him stand.

Caleb wavered on his feet for a minute before he was able to stand on his own. He felt dizzy and even a little nauseous.

Per coach's orders, Pogue escorted Caleb out of the natatorium and to the nurse's office so she could check for a concussion. Practice was ended early and a small crowd followed them down the hall. The school day was about to begin and the hallway was crowded with other students. Caleb kept his head low and was subtly leaning on Pogue to help him walk straight.

"Caleb?" He heard a girl's voice call. "Woah, what happened?"

Caleb looked up and saw blond hair and blue eyes. It was Anna, and she looked angry. She got angry when she was worried.

"Uh…." Caleb had trouble forming words at the moment. He had an awful headache and was anxious to get out of the loud, crowded hallway.

"Golden boy here knocked his head in the pool." Reid spoke up.

"What?" Anna glared at Caleb again. "You idiot." She smacked his stomach, but instantly regretted it. Caleb looked like crap.

Caleb tried to glare back, but he wasn't sure it was working.

When Anna put a hand on Caleb's head to feel for a bump, Chase felt himself getting angry again. He was tired of feeling left-out and ignored, especially by Anna.

Anna gently prodded the bump she found near the top of Caleb's head; Caleb winced and lazily swatted her hand away.

Anna spoke to Pogue this time, "You're taking him to the nurse, right?"

Pogue nodded at the blonde in front of him and started ushering Caleb forward again. "C'mon man."

The crowd started moving down the hall again, but Anna didn't follow them. She had a class to get to. When she turned on her heel to walk in the other direction, she nearly ran into another figure standing in the hall.

"Oh, hey Chase." Anna didn't know why she was surprised to see him here too.

"Hey," Chase kept walking down the hall until Anna put a hand on his arm.

"How did, um, how did tryouts go?" Anna tucked some hair behind her ear, nervous that Chase didn't actually _want_ to be talking to her. He certainly didn't seem like it, but he had never been that way with her before.

Chase stared down at her a moment before answering, "I won."

"You won freestyle?"

Anna remembered that his event was the freestyle; maybe she had been paying more attention to him than he thought. Chase just nodded.

Anna smiled at him, "Congratulations!"

She had a pretty smile, Chase allowed himself to admit. He considered himself lucky that the girl he had to date and sabotage was at least pretty. It made it easier for him to smile back at her.

* * *

"Where is it?" Caleb muttered to himself, not necessarily talking to his friend beside him.

"Are you sure you put it in there? The nurse said your concussion could cause some temporary memory loss." Pogue had insisted on following him from the nurse's office to the locker room, even though Caleb _insisted_ he was fine. Fine apart from the splitting headache that is.

"Yeah." Caleb stared at the towels and gear in his locker, things he had specifically moved to make space for Anna's book. Everything was right where he left it, except for the book, which seemed to be missing. Caleb ran his hands through his hair, "Man, Anna's gonna _kill_ me."

Pogue shook his head; Caleb's concussion was obviously causing him some major issues. "You probably just left it in your car, let's go look for it."

Caleb was _so sure_ that he hadn't, but he didn't know where else it could be. His locker hadn't been broken into, it was still locked when he got there, and who would steal a giant book with weird symbols on it anyways? Especially when his wallet and car keys were still in the locker. It just didn't make sense – maybe Pogue was right after all.

* * *

 **A/N: I got 1 review for chapter 1, 2 reviews for chapter 2, 3 for chapter 3, and 4 for chapter 4…How about we keep the pattern going and do 5 reviews this time?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Covenant, only Annabelle and whatever else you don't recognize.**

 **A/N: I'm so so sorry, but I'm not going to sit here and write a bunch of excuses, because I hate when other people do that. Instead, I have good news. After months of interviewing and meeting with various companies, I have officially secured a full-time job for when I graduate from university this May! So now that like 90% of my stress is gone, I'm finally able to enjoy my senior year and spend more time doing things I enjoy, like** ** _writing_** **. I'm sorry it was such a long, unexpected break, but I'm back! Thanks for all the support and great reviews while I was gone.**

 **On another note, for some reason I choose Anna's interests to be things I know very little about: soccer and French. I'll do my best to be accurate, but if I ever make any mistakes I'll be more than happy to correct them if they're brought to my attention politely.**

 **As always, I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **Omniscient POV**

"Shit," Caleb whispered under his breath as he quickly ducked behind a bookshelf. He had been walking through the library with Reid when he spotted Anna a few rows down from them.

"You're still avoiding her?" Reid accused. "C'mon man, that's cruel. Even I wouldn't do that to Anna."

Caleb raised his eyebrows in questioning.

"Okay, fine, I would." Reid admitted. "But you're supposed to be the golden child. Why don't you just tell her you lost her special book and get it over with?"

"Because," Caleb hesitated when he spoke too loudly. He quickly looked around, expecting Anna to jump out at him. "Because, I… I don't know how to tell her. Plus, I'm hoping that I'll just find it."

" _That you'll just find it_?" Reid mocked, lowering his voice to imitate Caleb's. "Yeah, good luck with that."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Caleb started thumbing through the books beside him.

Reid scoffed, "You're not going to find it here. C'mon man." He grabbed Caleb's arm and dragged him out of the library.

Chase, who was watching the entire exchange unseen, moved away from his own hiding place and headed towards the back of the library.

* * *

 **Annabelle POV**

I hated French, like _really_ hated it. No matter how much I studied, the words never seemed to stick. I would blame it on the fact that I had so much Latin and witchy spells crammed into my brain that there wasn't room for anything else, but, honestly, I wasn't very good at memorizing those either. I was repeating phrases under my breath when I heard footsteps behind me.

"Hey Caleb," I greeted without even looking. "What section did you day Mrs. Bissette took all her quiz questions from?"

"He told me she likes to use the footnotes," a voice, that was definitely not Caleb, spoke. "I'm taking that class too."

I smiled when it was Chase that sat down next to me. I already knew he was in my class, he sat three rows in front of me, but I didn't say anything. Caleb took the class last year and aced it, of course. He promised he'd help me study, but… I frowned and played with the frayed edges of the textbook in my lap. If there was one thing I knew about Caleb, it was that he hated disappointing people. He studied hard for his teachers, worked to control the Power for his mother, hell he even worked hard to get into Harvard so he wouldn't let down his father who I'm sure wouldn't even notice his efforts. And then I went and trusted him with one of my family's most valuable heirlooms. I was sure something happened to the book; it couldn't be a coincidence that he started avoiding me like the plague the day after I lent it to him. Did I regret trusting him? No, absolutely not. I probably trusted him any more than any of the other Sons. Not only was he the most responsible, but he'd also been my best friend since before we could walk. It just hurt that apparently he didn't value our friendship as much as I did.

"Are you okay?" I'd almost forgotten Chase was there.

"Yeah, yeah." Even I could tell my smile was forced.

The way Chase looked at me then… The corners of his mouth were pulled down, there was a crease forming between his brows, he angled his body towards me, and his eyes never strayed from my own. I hadn't known Chase for long, but he made me feel…important, like he genuinely cared. It was a refreshing change from my current guy friends who always seemed to take me for granted. I couldn't _not_ tell him.

"It's just –" I shrugged. "Caleb's been avoiding me." I let out a sad chuckle, it sounded pathetic now that I'd said it out loud.

Chase hesitated before gently placing his hand on me knee. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I am." My voice was steady, even I believed me. "I think I know _why_ he's doing it; I just wish he didn't feel like he needed to."

Chase nodded but didn't say anything else. I don't think he knew _what_ to say, but I appreciated him being here and listening all the same.

"How – " I stuttered in my attempt to change the subject. "How did you find this place?"

Caleb was the one to show me this little hidden nook in a back corner of the library. One of the nice things about it was no one else seemed to know it was here, so we could study here unseen. It was a small space that I think was a result from a flaw in the building's design. One book case ran perpendicular to another and they met in a corner, but the library walls jutted out behind one book case, leaving a small gap that was big enough for maybe three people. I usually studied here now, sitting on the floor with my books spread out around me. Caleb often joined me too, but I had never seen anyone else back here.

Chase chuckled, looking embarrassed, and started absentmindedly rubbing circles on my knee with his thumb. "Honestly, I got lost. And then I heard you mumbling in French from the other side of the bookcase."

"Well that's… embarrassing," I fought back a blush.

"Nah," Chase nudged my shoulder with his own. "It was pretty cute, would've been downright adorable, except…"

"Except what?" I fought back a smile.

The Sons 'flirted' with me sometimes, but it was the friendly, innocent kind of flirting that we knew would never lead anywhere. It was more exciting with Chase; I never knew where we stood or where we would end up. Plus, I couldn't decide if his smirk was sexy or cute, and I wanted to keep staring at it until I figured it out.

He squeezed my knee in false comfort. "You're pronunciation is a tad off."

"My pronun – " I slapped his hand away. "It is not!"

"But it is." He was trying not to laugh. "Your o's sound like ou's. It's a very subtle difference in French. Hard to catch if you don't have an ear for it."

I couldn't hold in my laugh anymore. "Do you have any idea how pretentious you sound? My o's are just fine, thank you."

"O's" He corrected.

"Yeah, o's" I seriously couldn't tell the difference between what we were saying.

"Oooo," He was making fun of me now.

"Oooo," I puckered my lips and copied him.

Neither of us could keep it up for long before we started laughing.

* * *

 **Omniscient POV**

Sarah knew Spencer Academy would be tougher than the public school she transferred from in Boston, but what she didn't expect was to be stuck with a giant load of coursework after only the first week. But she wanted into Harvard, and this was one of the best ways to set her above all the other thousands of applicants. When Kate sighed from the seat next to her, Sarah was reassured that she wasn't the only one tired of all the schoolwork. Her back was practically creaking as she sat up and observed her surroundings for the first time in an hour. There were students spread all around the library, studying just like her and Kate.

Then, Sarah saw the one girl she hated running into. Sarah didn't believe the whole 'I'm beautiful but I don't know I'm beautiful' vibe the girl had going on. She had long blonde hair, big blue eyes, an athletic figure, and she always seemed to be hanging around boys. This girl had a knack for interrupting her time with Caleb. She'd steal his attention at the dinner table or take the last seat next to him during class. The girl was Annabelle Hawthorne. Sarah let out a groan as she saw Anna yet again talking to a tall, handsome guy.

"What? Do you not like Anna or something?" Sarah's groan had caught Kate's attention and she followed her line of sight to see Anna walking between the bookcases with Chase.

Sarah knew she had to tread carefully, Kate was Anna's friend after all. "No, she just – spent the night at Caleb's a couple of nights ago…"

Kate sighed; she knew exactly what the girl was feeling. Anna was beautiful, and she had a relationship with the guys that she could never compete with, but Kate had made peace with that fact long ago. But Sarah was very interested in Caleb and she hardly knew Anna. Kate wanted to mediate the situation, she like both girls and wanted them all to be friends.

"Look, Anna is…you don't need to worry about Anna. She's been friends with those boys since the day she was born. Their families go way back. Like, I'm pretty sure they used to take baths together when they were five. They're close, _really close_ , and I know it can be intimidating. Those boys need Anna, they _love_ Anna. **Pogue** loves Anna and that took a while for me to get used to, but his love for her is completely different than his love for me. Anna is going to be in Caleb's life whether you want her there or not, but her presence doesn't have to be a threat, not unless you make it one."

Sarah still didn't like the girl but Kate made her point clear: to drive a wedge between her and Anna would also drive a wedge between her and Caleb. She looked at Anna again and tried to study the girl with a more open mind. The only thing that stood out to her was Anna and Chase's hands. The two were walking close together, talking about something Sarah couldn't hear, and their arms were hanging by their sides so that the backs of their hands were just barely brushing against the others'. Suddenly, Sarah had an idea. If Anna was busy with her own boyfriend, she would spend less time around Caleb and getting in the way of his soon-to-be relationship with Sarah.

"I guess you're right," Sarah spoke to Kate. "And besides, her and Chase would make an adorable couple."

Kate's eyes widened and she smiled broadly as she leaned closer to Sarah. "I know! I've been trying to tell Pogue that but he won't even listen to me."

A meddler at heart, Kate had been trying to get Anna a boyfriend for what seemed like ages, but the boys wouldn't even let Anna get close to another guy after the whole Bryan incident. Kate didn't know the full story, it was from before she and Pogue were serious, but apparently one bad boyfriend was enough to convince the Sons that no one was good enough for their Annabelle.

"Really?" Sarah was glad she already had Kate on her side.

"Totally, but we have our work cut-out for us, the guys are ridiculously protective of her."

* * *

Caleb was late. He was _so_ late. Although Caleb had been avoiding Anna for the better part of the week, he didn't want to miss her game. It was only a scrimmage, not even an official soccer game, and the Spencer team was playing against themselves, not any other school, but it was still an important game for Anna and he had wanted to be there. He knew how important this was for her. She wanted to win team captain this year, and she had a good shot of winning. Her biggest competition was Kira. Anna's performance and leadership in this game would play a big role in the coach's final decision on this season's team captain.

The other Sons were already at the game and he knew the vibrating in his pocket had to be one of them calling him. Caleb only pushed harder on the gas pedal.

"Woah, what's the rush?" Sarah asked from the passenger seat of his mustang. She had asked him for a ride to the store and he had been glad to take her, he just didn't think it would take so long.

"We're late for Anna's soccer game," he explained to her... again.

"Right," Sarah nodded. "Speaking of Anna…"

"What about her?"

"Actually, it's about her and Chase. I think they like each other."

Before Chase had the chance to respond, a sharp pain shot up his left arm. In his surprise, Caleb jerked the wheel of the car and the mustang swerved for a moment. Sarah screamed and shot him a wide look.

"Sorry," he mumbled, distracted. "There was a, uh, rabbit in the road."

Sarah turned in her seat to look for the rabbit behind them and Caleb took that moment to take his left hand off the wheel and press his arm into his side. After the initial onslaught of pain, a burning, itching sensation took hold of his arm. It hurt a little, but was uncomfortable more than anything. He had felt this before. It was rare and hadn't happened in a long time, but he recognized the feeling all the same. He knew exactly what it meant: Anna was hurt. Anna was hurt and he wasn't there.

* * *

"He's still not answering," Tyler sighed as he tucked is phone back into his pocket.

"He's probably on his way, man. I wouldn't worry about it." Pogue spoke from his seat beside Reid.

The three Sons sat together in the middle of the bleachers. Anna was playing well but the game was still tied and the Sons could practically feel the tension rising on the field between Anna and Kira. The game was getting rough, and while Anna was tougher than most, she was unwilling to play dirty like Kira was. Pogue expected Anna to be sporting a few new bruises after this game, maybe even a scratch or two. Luckily for Anna, she worked well when she was angry. The more she and her team got hit, the faster she ran and the harder she played. Anna wasn't going down without a fight.

But, she did go down. The entire crowd "ooh'd" as Anna took a particularly hard hit. Anna had jumped into the air with the intention of heading the ball when Kira under-cut her and she fell to the ground. The entire crowd, with the exception of four boys, watched as Anna rolled over on the ground but didn't stand up. The three Sons of Ipswich present at the game were clutching their left arms and looking at each other in bewilderment. The fourth boy, Chase Collins, was carefully watching the Sons from his seat a couple of rows behind them.

"What the hell." Reid muttered.

"It feels the same," Tyler spoke to himself, but the Sons and Chase heard him.

"What are you talking about?" Reid started flexing his wrist and poking at his arm, looking for any marks.

"It was years ago, when Anna fell out of that tree and broke her leg. It feels the same. Don't you remember?"

Chase was starting to put the clues together. He was sure about it now, Anna was definitely **the** girl, but her connection with the Sons was stronger than he had originally thought.

"So, her arm's broken then?" Reid looked out at the field again where Anna was standing now but was cradling her left arm to her chest.

"Looks like it." Pogue stood immediately and the two younger Sons followed him. They headed towards the edge of the field where the medics were leading Anna.

Chase stood behind and watched. Annabelle was in fact a descendant from the line of women connected to the Sons of Ipswich. His father had told him that his plan would have to start with her. Use the girl to get to the Sons. And Chase now knew that he couldn't hurt her. Not that he was planning to; he didn't really have a plan for what he was going to do to Anna – yet. But at least now he had narrowed down his options. If he was going to hurt her, he'd have to do it psychologically. Luckily for him, Anna had a big heart – it wouldn't be too hard to break. What Chase didn't know was that while it wouldn't be hard to break her heart, it _would_ be hard for _him_ to do it.

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 **A/N: I know I have no right to ask this of any of you, but any and all reviews are greatly appreciated. They really are great motivators and I love hearing from my readers.**


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